Re: FTP/S and SFTP

Both protocols are secure.

SFTP runs a little faster (though, unless you're sending a lot of small files, you probably won't notice), works a lot better through NAT and firewalls.

The OS/400 implementation of FTP has, IMHO, a cumbersome scripting interface. It's difficult to detect errors, and unless you're willing to hard-code a password in a script, you almost have to write a program to generate your script on the fly. It's support for client certificates was cumbersome last time I looked at it -- I don't know if they ever improved that. I did hear that IBM i 6.1 includes support for the enhanced FTP protocol, which will make SSL FTP work a little better through NAT -- but only if both the client and server support it.

I don't really understand the "change password every 60 days" comment. Why would you have to change your password every 60 days using SFTP (which you'd typically run password-free using digital keys) but not with FTP-SSL (which would normally require a password to be put into a script where someone could potentially view it)? Seems backward to me.



Dave Odom wrote:

Gang,

I need to know how to invoke, use, install a banks certificate for,
etc., FTP/S on the i. I have to send a file to a bank with FTP/S.
I also have the option of using SFTP but I don't think I like that
because it is NOT native to the i AND it requires changing a password
every 60 days whereas I only have to renew the FTP/S certificate
every year.

Please NO Windoz solutions unless everything related on the i doesn't
work any more.

I read about what Scott had to say a couple of years ago in the
archives but thought the mousetrap might be better if discussed anew.


Thanks in advance,

Dave